Welcome to Windows 7 Forums. Our forum is dedicated to helping you find support and solutions for any problems regarding your Windows 7 PC be it Dell, HP, Acer, Asus or a custom build. We also provide an extensive Windows 7 tutorial section that covers a wide range of tips and tricks.

Windows 7: Removing Win 7 system file use of paging file

Hello the Forum, I have not found, but would guess there is a registry method for turning off Windows 7
use of the paging file for system files. I have 24G ram, but win 7 immediately offloads to the paging file before I even run any applications. Not trying to stop Win 7 from paging programs and program data if the need arises. It should not, but one never knows.

Windows doesn't normally copy anything in exe, dll or similar files to the pagefile. There are some unusual situations where this is done but you have no control over that. There normally is no need to do so. When code in exe or dll files is paged out it is simply dropped from memory, secure in the knowledge that it can be reloaded from the original files if needed.

The pagefile is only used for data that does not exist in any other file. Also understand that the data is initially copied, not moved to the pagefile. The data initially remains in RAM. Only in the event that the memory is needed for other purposes would it exist only in the pagefile. With 24 GB RAM that probably isn't going to happen very often. Copying data to the pagefile can occur in parallel with other operations and there is usually no need to wait for it to finish. The performance cost of copying data to the pagefile is minimal.

So basically you are wanting to stop what Windows doesn't normally do anyway.

Edit: The use of the pagefile is the exclusive domain of the system memory manager. Applications or other system components have no access. The user is provided with almost no control over this. This is as it should be.

When I first got Windows 7 I tinkered with pagefile, prefetch virtual memory and it was a waste of time. I just let Window 7 manage all memory.
Windows 7 know what to do with memory and when all by itself and it does a great job in my opinion.

There are 2 pools from which kernel level components can allocate memory:
1. Non Paged Pool: Data in this pool can never be paged out under any circumstances.
2. Paged Pool: This memory CAN be paged out at the discretion of the memory manager. Note the term is CAN.
Maybe a better term would have been Pageable Pool.

Task Manager shows the current size of allocations from these 2 pools. It tells us nothing of how much data is actually paged out and there is nothing in Task Manager that will tell us this. It really isn't that important. There is no provision for controlling this.

Note that there is an enormous amount of misinformation on the Internet concerning the pagefile and memory management. Even published books sometimes contain errors.

I agree. Memory management is best left to windows. It will still use the page file for certain tasks and you shouldn't even try to change that. What you can do is decrease the amount of space used by the pagefile because windows sets it by default to 1.5 times the size of your real memory. In your case you might want to decrease that.

Paged pool memory is called that because, in a pinch, it can be paged out to the paging file (and of course nonpaged pool cannot). But as WHS and LMiller7 have pointed out, what you see in task manager is not what you think it is.

Unless you've got a reason to change the paging file settings in Windows (disk space concerns, usually), there are no real valid reasons to do so.

Removing Win 7 system file use of paging file

System Paging FileHi There,
I was wondering if someone with more knowledge than me can assist.
I have 16GB DDR3 1600 Ram installed on Windows 7 SP1 64 Bit.
Here is a screenshot of my Paging file tab showing what's allocated:...

SSD and paging file(s).So many different "recommendations" - which is best and why
1) Keep page file on C: drive system managed
2) Keep page file on C: fixed small size if you have lots of ram
3) Move page file to another drive, system sized
4) Set 2nd system managed page file on a second drive, small page file on...

Hardware & Devices

Paging FileWhen my system boots I get a message that there is no paging file and windows will set a tempoary one. I have 4 gigs of ram so I go through the procedure of setting a page file size and reboot after which I get the same message. Can someone tell me what I must do to correct this?
Thanks, Bob

Performance & Maintenance

Paging file system will not setJust love these new issues with the RTM bits. Never saw on earlier builds.
So, I have a computer that defaults to no paging file set.
No matter what I try, it will not let any paging file be set,
always goes back to nothing set.
Any ideas?
Dave